Ticket to Write: Vases by ancient Greek painter can bring goosebumps

One of the greatest artists of ancient Athens — that’s fifth century B.C., mind you — will have dozens of his finest vases displayed this summer at the Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art.

I know.

Wow.

The anonymous artist, known as the Berlin Painter, created “some of the greatest masterpieces of classical antiquity,” said Adam Levine, the museum’s associate curator of ancient art.

The exhibit, “The Berlin Painter and His World: Athenian Vase-Painting in the Early Fifth Century B.C.,” opens July 1.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to explain how great things are, but I can’t overstate how compelling these vases are,” Levine said. “They are extraordinary works of art: The craftsmanship, the skill, the drawing. The artist is brilliant. He’s sometimes known as ‘the Painter of Grace.’”

Levine’s enthusiasm, I must say, gave me goosebumps.

“But this exhibition is not just for art lovers, but for history lovers, too,” he said.

The artist lived through some of the most crucial moments of early Western history, including the Persian Wars, the overthrow of Athenian tyranny and the establishment of the first democracy, Levine said.

“These pieces are documents of some of the most significant moments in the course of human history,” he said.

More goosebumps? Oh, yeah.

The Berlin Painter received his pseudonym from a scholar who identified his pieces — including one in a museum in Berlin, Germany — as the work of a single artist with a unique style.

“The show explores not just the masterpieces, but how we can say with certainty they are by that single artist,” Levine said.

The exhibition, which includes 84 ancient Greek vessels and statuettes of bronze and terra cotta, including 50 pieces attributed to the Berlin Painter, runs through Oct. 1. Admission is $10, free for students.

The exhibition was organized by the Princeton Museum of Art, where it was on display earlier this year.

The pieces are on loan from some of the finest museums in the world, including the Louvre Museum, British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vatican Museums and J. Paul Getty Museum.

“You will never have a chance to see all of these pieces together again,” Levine said.

Yeah. More goosebumps.

— Steve Stephens can be reached at sstephens@dispatch.com or on Twitter @SteveStephens.